“It is true that Mars has stopped supplying Rewe in Austria,” said Rewe spokesman Paul Pöttschacher of the “Salzburger Nachrichten”. This applies not only to bars like Snickers or Mars, but also to dog and cat food like Pedigree and Whiskas, as well as Wrigley’s chewing gum or Ben’s rice. The background is that Mars asked for higher prices “to an extent that we cannot understand and that is completely excessive for us”.
Pöttschacher pointed out that the prices of comparable competing products have risen less and that Mars charges less for its products in other countries. “We will not allow customers in Austria to pay significantly more than in other countries,” the “Salzburger Nachrichten” (SN) quoted the spokesman as saying. Mars did not accept lower price increases and therefore stopped supplying. However, negotiations are still ongoing and given the stocks, customers are not yet affected. In any case, it is not a matter of a “delisting” of Mars products.
There are also problems with individual products from other international brands. These included the spreadable Philadelphia cheese from Milka’s mother company Mondelez, Pringles chips from Kellogg’s and some “by-products” from Haribo. On the other hand, Rewe has always been able to come to an agreement with the major domestic producers, says Pöttschacher.
The Swiss retail giant Coop has also removed several products from the brand multinational Mars from its range because, from Coop’s point of view, Mars wanted to implement “above-average price increases” across the entire range. Coop suggests alternatives from its own product lines to its customers. Mars does not currently supply Rewe or Edeka in Germany either. Edeka also argues with Coca-Cola about the delivery.
Also at Spar “very difficult negotiations“
Spar spokeswoman Nicole Berkmann calls the price negotiations with the industry “extremely tough” to the “Salzburger Nachrichten”. “So far we’ve always been able to come to an agreement, but we can’t rule anything out here either,” she said.
In return, sales of retail chains’ own brands are booming, as Pöttschacher and Berkmann confirm in the “SN”.
Mars Austria did not want to comment on the dispute on Thursday, the “SN” wrote. Mondelez spokeswoman Livia Kolmitz also confirmed the delivery stop at Philadelphia, but did not want to say anything about ongoing negotiations.
Source: Nachrichten
